“People are strange and set in their ways,” he said. “Of course there is no reason why the Warden should not be female. But once the father-to-son tradition has been broken, people may listen to us when we call for change. If we bide our time, we may get what we want peacefully.”
“I never thought of that!” Crell exclaimed. He, at least, plainly found the idea of a peaceful solution very appealing.
Rye felt a rush of admiration for Sholto. Sholto was not easy and affectionate, like Dirk. He was sometimes impatient — even cold. Rye often suspected he preferred books to people. But he could be trusted to think things through, coolly and carefully.
Dirk shook his head. “You may be right, Sholto, but it would take too long. Weld needs change now if it is to survive, and the Warden has plenty of life in him yet.”
“Quite so,” said Joliffe with the trace of a sneer. “Fine plans for the future might suit those with their heads in the clouds, but we who are practical must deal with the present.”
Rye had noticed that Joliffe often made sly digs at Sholto. Perhaps, Rye thought, Joliffe was a little jealous of Dirk’s loyalty to his clever brother.
“Shh!” Crell hissed. “Soldiers!”
Sure enough, three figures in the crisp white tunics and red leggings worn by the soldiers of the Keep had rounded a corner just ahead and were marching toward them in single file. The heavy gold braid on the soldiers’ sleeves and shoulders glinted in the soft morning light. The white plumes on their helmets nodded and swayed.
Fancily dressed oafs … Sholto’s contemptuous words whispered in Rye’s mind, and for the first time in his life, he stared at Keep soldiers without respectful admiration.
“What business could soldiers have had in the square so early in the day?” Dirk muttered.
“They must have been expecting trouble,” said Joliffe, sounding gleeful.
Sholto shook his head. “If that were so, they would not have left so soon. And there would be more than three of them.”
Joliffe shot him an annoyed glance but said nothing.
The soldiers passed by, nodding politely, as Keep soldiers were trained to do to show they were no threat to law-abiding citizens.
Dirk, Sholto, Joliffe, and Crell returned the greetings casually. Rye muttered and ducked his head. Something unusual had happened; he was sure of it. He could feel the soldiers’ excitement — kept well under control but radiating from them like heat.
“Perhaps there was skimmer damage in the square overnight,” Crell said. “Maybe there have been more deaths!”
Everyone but Sholto crossed fingers and wrists.
But when they reached the square, they found that the soldiers’ errand had been something completely unexpected.
A large new notice had been fixed to the wall of the long, low meetinghouse that took up one side of the square. A small knot of people stood before the notice, chattering excitedly. Dirk, Joliffe, Crell, and Sholto ran to look, with Rye hurrying behind them.
Rye gaped at the notice, his head reeling.
All his life he had believed that the Wall of Weld was an unbroken circle, with no way in or out. He had never doubted it for a moment. It had been more than belief. It had been something he had known, as surely as he knew his own name. And now, suddenly …
“Ha!” Dirk breathed. “Sholto, do you see that? Do you see it?”
“I can read,” Sholto murmured. “So … old Tallus’s tale of the Sorcerer’s secret way through the Wall is true after all. Who would have believed it?”
Rye looked up at him and felt a chill.
Sholto looked quite calm — even slightly bored — but no one who knew him as well as Rye did could miss the fact that his dark, clever eyes were glowing as if lit by a flame from within.
Rye knew that Sholto was thinking of what he could learn beyond the Wall. He was imagining himself tracking the skimmers to their source in the Fell Zone, where he was sure they bred, and finding a way to destroy them.
The glow in Sholto’s eyes was the thirst for knowledge. And it was strong — strong enough to smother his natural caution.
Sholto is not yet eighteen, Rye told himself feverishly. I do not have to worry about him. He is too young to accept the Warden’s challenge.
But then he looked past Sholto to Dirk, and fear gripped his heart. Dirk, a head taller than Sholto and broader in the shoulders by far, was almost twenty. And Dirk was punching the air, his face alive with excitement.
“At last, Joliffe!” Dirk cried, clapping his friend on the back. “At last, a chance to do something to help ourselves! By the Wall, I cannot believe it!”
“Dirk, no!” Rye burst out. “You must not go!”
“Are you mad, Rye?” snapped Joliffe. “How can we turn our backs on an offer like this? Do you not see the prize for success? Did you not read the sign?”
“Did you?” Rye retorted angrily. “Did you not see that each volunteer must leave the city alone? How can one man defeat the Enemy who is sending the skimmers? It would take an army!”
Joliffe snorted. “Dirk, Crell, and I will join up outside the Wall, never fear.”
“And as for an army, Rye,” Dirk put in, “well, for once, the Warden is in the right. In a quest such as this, a small band, moving stealthily, is better than an army. It can find out the Enemy’s secrets and weaknesses without raising the Enemy’s fears.”
His eyes were shining. “Even one man could do it, if he was brave and determined enough. Look what the Sorcerer Dann did in ancient times! He saved his followers from the barbarians single-handed.”
“But that was then!” Rye burst out. “This is now! And the Sorcerer Dann had magic to aid him! Powerful magic! You have no magic, Dirk.”
“None of us do,” Crell said dismally. “Magic is dead in Weld, or so my grandmother says.”
“Magic is dead in Weld because it never existed in the first place,” Sholto drawled. “When will you people accept that the old tales are just that — old tales, that have no foundation in truth? Dann’s so-called ‘magic powers’ were simply a mixture of quick wits and good sense, with a few ingenious inventions thrown in.”
“Inventions like your famous skimmer repellent, no doubt.” Joliffe smirked, nudging Crell in the ribs.
“No doubt,” Sholto said, unruffled. “Ignorant people often call things magic when they do not understand them.”
Joliffe decided to ignore him. He puffed out his chest and stretched out his arms to embrace Dirk and Crell.
“So, comrades! Tomorrow we go to the Keep to volunteer! Agreed?”
“Agreed!” Dirk and Crell both shouted, though it seemed to Rye that Crell looked uneasy.
“Excellent!” Joliffe declared, rubbing his hands. “Now, I see that the tavern has opened. Let us go and drink to our success!”
Dirk hesitated, glanced at his brothers, then shook his head. “It is a little early for me,” he said.
Joliffe laughed. “Oh, of course,” he jeered. “Sholto and Rye are too young to enter the tavern. But surely they can find their own way home?”
“It is a little early for me,” Dirk repeated with a smile. And seeing that he would not be persuaded, Joliffe shrugged and made for the tavern himself, with Crell trotting by his side.
“Dirk, you cannot go beyond the Wall,” Rye whispered, the moment they were alone. “It is too dangerous! Think what Mother will say!”
Sholto looked disdainful. But Dirk ruffled his youngest brother’s hair affectionately.
“Of course I must go, Rye,” he said. “There is danger, yes, but nothing is more important than saving Weld — nothing! Besides, think what it will mean to us if I succeed!”
And think what it will mean to us if you never come back, Dirk, Rye could not help retorting in his mind, though he did not speak the words aloud, and felt disloyal even thinking them.